Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct information about the foreclosure transaction.
One of Atlanta’s largest hotels was recently sold at a foreclosure auction, highlighting the postpandemic challenges that continue to plague the city’s hospitality sector and the wider world of commercial real estate.
The 1,249-room Hilton Atlanta at 255 Courtland St. NE was sold to the highest bidder March 4 at a foreclosure auction after its ownership group defaulted on its nearly $219 million loan, according to Fulton County property records. The hotel remains open.
The owners of the loan, Axonic Capital and a subsidiary of Trinity Investments, exercised a “credit bid” of $191 million to take position in a foreclosure auction. The credit bid amounts to the companies' ownership stake in the defaulted loan on the hotel, which is known for hosting conventions including Dragon Con every year.
The foreclosure auction was first reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. It marks the latest landmark property in Atlanta to either be returned to its lender or sold on the Fulton County Courthouse steps since COVID-19 upended the economy in early 2020.
The Hilton was previously advertised for foreclosure in August 2020 as the hospitality sector deeply impacted by COVID-19, but the property did not go back to its lender at that time.
“The distress cycle is like a slow burn or a churn,” Abby Corbett, head of investor insights at real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, recently told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s a “yearslong process that kind of chugs along, and we’re in the midst of that process,” she added.
Built in 1976, Hilton Atlanta is a fixture of downtown’s hotel district. Skybridges — a fixture of the area around Peachtree Center — connect the Hilton Atlanta to neighboring hotel giants Marriott Marquis and Hyatt Regency. The trio form one of the city’s largest concentrations of hotel rooms and act as a convention destination.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Florida-based Haberhill LLC and New York-based Apollo Global Real Estate Management bought Hilton Atlanta in 2015.
Axonic and Trinity later acquired a $219 million loan on the property and initiated the March 4 auction. The current debt on the property is a $194 million loan that matures in January 2026. Real estate services firm CBRE has been hired to market the hotel for sale.
Credit: Ben hendren
Credit: Ben hendren
Doug Greene, managing director for Haberhill, declined to comment. Trinity Investments, Axionic Capital and Apollo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Foreclosures are a visible sign of distress at a property, but the day-to-day operations usually don’t undergo significant immediate change. A Hilton spokesperson said it “is business as usual for Hilton Atlanta,” which will continue to be managed under the Hilton Hotels & Resorts flag.
“We remain fully committed to welcoming guests with the quality service and signature hospitality experience they have come to enjoy,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Hotels were among the hardest hit properties by the 2020 pandemic, which upended both leisure and business travel.
While tourism has broadly rebounded to prepandemic levels, business and convention travel has struggled to recover. Like the hospitality sector, the office market has also struggled to adjust to postpandemic workplace changes that have prompted vacancy rates to climb to record levels.
In 2022, six towers and the mall within Peachtree Center, a landmark downtown office and retail development, were returned to the lender in the largest foreclosure sale in Atlanta since the fallout of the Great Recession.
Several landmark hotels went through similar distress, such as the 763-room Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, which was rebranded at the Courtland Grand Hotel in 2023 after its own loan issues. The same year, the mixed-use W Atlanta — Downtown hotel off Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard was also sold at a discount to avoid a foreclosure auction.
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